New Housing Scheme,
Oaklands College Site, St Albans, Herts

The college was designed and constructed in the late 1950’s as part of the Hertfordshire Schools Project, and has continued as a further education college ever since. However, changing educational requirements have forced the college to move out into more appropriate modern accommodation and sell the site to Fairview Homes for largely residential use. During the design and planning process of converting the site into a residential scheme, the core of the existing college buildings were grade two listed, and so a defining theme of the new development was introduced. PRP Architects and John Pardey Architects then developed the scheme into a series of modernist apartments within the listed buildings, and a series of sympathetic new apartment blocks around the core on the remainder of the site. The final scheme includes over 300 units in new and listed buildings set into a campus environment, with new underground car parking. Two of the listed buildings are to be retained for community use.

Our role in the scheme has been to survey the listed buildings, to advise on their conversion, and also to develop the scheme for the new buildings. Our surveys have revealed the elegant existing steel and concrete structures that we believe are historically significant.

Architect MGM with John Pardey Architects